In an era of dwindling fossil fuel supplies and continuously rising cost of energy obtained therefrom, as well as a vigilant concern for the environment, solar radiation represents an almost unending source of energy which is clean and non-polluting. Principal obstacles to wide scale adoption of solar energy have been the relatively high cost of component parts of solar energy systems and installation thereof.
Many current solar energy conversion systems employ solar energy concentrators which are adapted to collect and focus the sun's energy onto solar cells or thermal converters by means of reflecting or refracting devices. Such systems and apparatus associated therewith have not been wholly satisfactorily, not only because of their initial cost and maintenance, but, among others, to various problems involved in their adjustment and seasonal tilting.
The present invention employs concentrators or reflectors comprising a transparent thermoplastic material having a thin film of a suitable metal disposing thereon, such as by vapor deposition. The coated film may be protected from the elements by known protective coatings and an array of such reflectors installed in operable relationship with photovoltaic cells or panels for optimally receiving and converting the sun's energy.
In many prior art installations, the arrays are required to be seasonally tilted for optimum angular inclination to the sun's rays. Such tilting apparatus is oftentimes complex, cumbersome and heavy. Yet other installations require servomechanisms, cam-linkage arrangements, and the like, which add to the cost and complexity of the installations as well as requiring periodic maintenance checks.
The present invention employs concentrators or reflectors which are readily adjusted by the simple expediency of sliding a control rod or bar to cause a plurality of arm members communicating between the control rod and reflector rods which form the apex of the reflectors to simultaneously pivot to thereby change the angle at which the reflectors are disposed. The length and positioning of the arm members bears a definite relationship to the mathematical laws governing an ellipse; and the reflectors, formed into an inverted V-shape, have their ends substantially affixed to structure at points which define the foci of the ellipse. The apexes of the inverted V-shaped reflectors are substantially coincident with the unpivoted ends of the arm members and by means of structure later described, are caused to pivot in unison in response to movement or sliding of the control rod or bar to thereby shift the apexes accordingly for changing the angle at which the reflectors address the sun. The structure is simple to construct, inexpensive, reliable, substantially free of maintenance, and requires no tilting of the arrays and only the sliding of one or more control rods several times a year, i.e., to accommodate the changing seasons.